Hopper-bottom car.



R. R. WEAVER.

HOPPER BOTTOM CAR.

APPLICATION HLED FEB. 16. Isls4 R. R. WEAVER,

HOPPER BOTTOM CAR,

APPLIQAUON FILED FEB.16.1918.

1,295,246. f Patented Feb. 25, 1919.

I o o o c |l. i O d o A! o o I R. R. WEAVER.

HOPEH BOTTOM CML APPLICATION mm FEB.16.\918.

@ated Beh 257 N19.

4 SHEETSMSHEEI 3.

ltrneys R. R. WEAVER.

HYQPPER BOTTOM CAR. APPLICATION FILED FEB16` |918.

3,@9946. Patented 25, 155' H/[TNESSES tenian erases rninnr oEEicE.

aannam E. WEAVER., or COLUMBUS, omo, ASSIGNOE 'ro THE RALS'roN STEEL CAR COMPANY, 0E COLUMBUS, oi-rio.

irorPER-Bor'roivi CAR.

Specification of Letters llatent.

Application le'd FebruarylG, 1918. Serial No. 217,555.

To @ZZ whomi' may concern.'

Be it known that l, ROBERT R. WTEAVER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Columbus, in the county of Franklin and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Hopper-Bottoni Cars; and I do hereby declare the following,

to be a: full,l clear, and exact/description of the invention, Such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.'

This invention relates to improvements in hopper bottom cars and particularly to drop door mechanism therefor,-one object of the invention being to provide a door structure and operating means therefor, which will insure a maximum opening between the free edges of the doors when the latter are in open position, and which will a'ord supports for the doors near their free edges when they are in open position, thus enhancing also the strength and stability of the structure.

A' further object is to hinge the doors to the car body in such manner as to decrease to a minimum the angle of inclination of the walls of the hopper body where thedoors are connected therewith, without reducing the efficiency of said hopper body.

A further object is to so construct the door mechanism of a hopper bottom car as to insure a maximum outlet when the doors are open, without danger of conflict with the wheels. f l

A further object is to provide door operating mechanism which will operate with a minimum amount of applied power .when

. the doors are being closed.

N ith these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts as hereinafter set forth and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view partly in section, illustrating the application of my improvements. Fig. 2 is a side elevation. .Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view, with the doors closed. Fig. 4

is a similar sectional view showing the doors open. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view partly in section showing the lever mechanism and Fig. 6 is an enlarged longitudinal showing the lever mechanism.

The general structure of the car comprises section i an underframe l; a hopper body 2 and suitable stakes or posts 3,-thelatter being Seratented Eeb. 25, 1919. f

cured to the side sills 4 of the underframe, ,i

to the sides of the. hopper body, and to the superstructure 5. The underframe comprises, in addition to the side sills and the end-sills, suitable bolster construction, and

draft sills 6,-the inner ends of which latter i y terminate at the hopper body and the inner end portions of the pairs of draft sills are bent or spaced laterally to enlarge the spaces between them for the `accommodation of door operating mechanism as hereinafter de` p scribed. Cross beams 7 are mounted at their respective ends upon the side sills 4 and .across the spread portionsof the short draft sills so as to assistin supporting the latter. Brackets 8 may be mounted on these cross beams and secured to the inclined floor sheets of the hopper body to assist in supporting said sheets.

Plates 9 are located at the inner sides of the underframe vbetween the holsters and are secured at the outer edges upon the side l sills,-the inner edges of said plates being flanged downwardly as at 10, and secured to the sides of the,hopper body adjacent to the '1 discharge outlet thereof. The plates 9 serve to support brackets 11 to form hinge supl 'ports above the plane of the side sills, for

the upper edges of drop doors 12 which cooperate to close the discharge'opening of the hopper body.

At respective ends of the discharge outlet of the hopper body, pairs of depending plates or hangers 13-14 are located. The upper end of each plate or hanger 13 is Secured to the lower end of the hopper body and each plate or hanger 14 (which is spaced from the adjacent plate or hanger 13) is made with a 'flanged beveled edge at its upper end secured to the inclined hopper sheet,

and each plate or hanger 14 is also provided l at its upperportion with lateral flanges 15 l I secured to the draft sills.

The door operating mechanism is supported, for the -most part, by the dependingA hangers below the car underframe and said mechanism is duplicated, (except as hereinafter pointed out) near respective ends of the door opening P Bearings 16 are provlded on the hangersy 14 for the inner ends of shafts A17 located. centrally of the underframer-the other'orouter ends of said shafts being mounted in bearin s 18 at or near the holsters of the l -undcr rame.

. therefrom under the shaft 17 to and slightly head.

beyond the first-mentioned end of said crossof links 20-21, are loosely connected at their outer ends to av rod or bar 23 disposed under one of the drop doors and may be provided With rollers 24- to engage the latter. The outer ends of the links 21 of each pair of links 20w21 are connected with a rod or bar 25 disposed under the other drop door and y may be provided with rollers Q6 to engage the same. p

Arms 27, 27 are located between the .hangers 13-14 of the respective pairs and piv otally connected at one end with the lower ortions of said hangers, said arms being oosely connected at their other ends with the door operating rods 23 and 25.

When the doors are in closed position, the rods or bars 28 and Q5 will be disposed under vsaid doors near the abutting edges thereof,

and the relations of the connections of the links 20-21 with the cross-head 19 are such that a dead center lock will be formed; that isto say, the pivotal connections of the respective links to the cross-head will be disposed at respective sides of a line passing through the lconnections of the links with the rods 23-'-25. It will also be observed that the arms or levers 27 will form supports for the'doors when the latter are in closed position. When the cross-heads are turned (as hereinafter described) to permit the doors to drop, the door operating rods or bars 23--25 will be moved outwardly under the doors during the first portion of the opening movement and during the last por,- tion of the opening movement of the doors, the rods or bars 23-25 will inove toward the free edges of the doors and become disposed in the positions shown in Fig. 4 when the doors are in their extreme open position.

Heretofore, it has been proposed to so arrange door operating mechanism that the operating rods or lbars will be disposed under the central portions of the doors when the. latter are in their open position. With such construction, the force of the lading being discharged will be brought to bear against the doors in such manner as to tend to break them as they will be apt to engage thewheels and tend to turn on the latter as -fulcrums Furthermore with such construction, 'the The links 20 of the respective. pairs.

levers which support the door operating rods or bars have been of such shape that they failtoafordadcquate strength.v Bylocating .walls of the hopper body without reducing the eflicienc)r of the latter.-

To provide means for applying power to lthe cross-head of the door operating mechanism, the yinstrumentalities now to be clescribed may be employed. l

A worm wheel 28 1s mounted, through the medium of clutch devices, on each of the shafts 17 and receive motion from worms 29 carried by transverse shafts 30-31. The shaft 30 may .extend entirely across the uuderframe and be suitably mounted in bearings carried by the side sills, `the respective ends of said shaft being adapted for the reception of a suitable operating wrench or crank. The shaft 3 1 may be mounted at one end in one of the side sills and extend only through the draft sills,-this shaft being also adapted near its outer end for the reception of a wrench or crank. The two transverse shafts 30-31 carry sprocket Wheels 32 connected by a sprocket chain 33, so that when. either of these shafts is operated, mo-

away as indicated at 38. The groove 37 is.

segmental in form, thus providing an abut 'ment 39 to be engaged bythe segmental rib or flange 36 on the hub 34.

Normally, when the doors are in closed position, the abutments 39 in the hubs 35 of the Worm wheelswill engage the ribs or flanges 36 on the hubs 34. Now when motion is imparted to the Worm wheels v28 by the manually operable gearing previously described, motion 'Will' be imparted through the clutch devices to the cross-heads of the door operating link mechanism and when the latter shail have been moved far enough to overcome thedead centers of said 1neeha' istA ` sides of said opening and vopening movement, the shafts nisms, the weight of the load inthe car body will Jforce the doors open, and during suc freely while the flanges or ribs 36 on the hubs 34 will move freely through the grooves 37 from one end to the other of theabutment 39 in the hubs 35 of the respective worm wheels, and thus the gearing will be relieved of strain which would otherwise be incident to the sudden opening of the doors.

n raising the doors, the left hand door as illustrated in Fig. 4, will close about twothirds the ldistance before the right hand door starts; then thislatter door will start to close and catch up with and close at the same time as the other door, due to the fact that the pin of the pin-and-slot at 22 passes down and bach through the slot, thus causing a lost motion to the right hand door. When the pin has come back to the end oi the slot, due to advance of the cross-head, the left hand door has been about two-thirds closed and the right hand door then continues to move and closes at the same time. 'lhus the raising of only one door during the initial closing operation requires less power than when both doors are raised simultaneously, and lessons the strain during such initial operation; but the said pinnn'd-slot construction Q2 will permit the doors to open simultaneously.

Various changes might be made in the deA tails or construction of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof or limiting its scope and hence I do not wish` to restrict myself to the Tirecise details herein set -forth.

Having fully described my invention what ,l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: n

1. ln a dumping car, the combination with a body having a discharge opening. and drop doors hinged respectively at respective cooperating to close the latter, of door-operating link mech-V anism including a cross head, and supporting arms for said doors, said arms being pivotally supported below thecross head of said link mechanism and pivotally connected with said link mechanism.

il, ln a dumping car, the combination with a body having a discharge opening and drop doors cooperating to close said opening, off' door operating linlr mechanism, depending hangers, and arms pivotally supported at their lower ends by said hangers and connected at their upper ends With said link mechanism.

8. ln a dumping car, the combination with an undertrame, a hopper body having a dischargel opening, and drop doors coperating to close said opening, of hangers depending below the underframe and hopper body near respective ends of saiddoors.

door-operating link mechanism, arms pivh cent to the lower-ends of said hangers, 17 will turn supported at their lower ends adjaotally and having pivotal connection at their upper ends with saidA'door operating link mechanism.

4.. In a dumping car, the combination with an underframe, afhopper body having a discharge opening, and drop doors cooperating to close said opening, of fixed hangers depending below said underframe and hopper body, door operating rods or bars disposed under the drop doors, arms pivotally supported at their lower ends by said hangers and loosely connected at their upper ends ywith said door-operating rods or bars, and means for operating saidrods or bars. p

5. ln a dumpiner car, the combination with an underframe and a hopper body having a discharge opening, of drop doors coperating to close said discharge opening, said doors hinged at their upper edges above the plane of the discharge outlet of the hopper body and above the plane of the underframe, door operating rods or bars under said doors, and supporting arms pivotally suported at their lower ends below the underrame and connected at their upper ends with said door operating rods or bars.-

6. in a dumping car, the 'combination with an underframe, and a hopper body having a discharge opening, of plates between the side sills of the underframe and the outlet portion of said hopper body and secured to both, drop doors cooperating to close said discharge opening, brackets mounted upon said plates to which said drop doors are hinged, door operating mechanism, and supporting arms pivotally supported at their lower ends below the underframe and hopper body and connected at their upper ends with door operating mechanism.

7. ln a dumping car, the combination with an underframe, a hopper body having a dischargeopening, and drop doors cop`- erating to close said opening, of hangers depending below the underframe and hopper body, door operating mechanism comprislng cross-heads, rods or bars disposed under the doors and linlrs connecting said rods or bars with said cross-heads, and supporting arms pivotally supported at their lower ends by the hangers below said plane of the crossheads and connected at their upper ends with said door operating rods or bars, and means for controlling the operation of said cross-heads.

I 8. In a dumping car, the combination with an underframe, a hopper body having a discharge opening, and drop doors coperating to close said opening, and door operating link mechanism, of two pairsmf plates near respective ends of the discharge outlet of the hopper body and depending below the same, one plate of each pair seof each paii having a ianged upper end secured to the hopper body and the draft sills of the nnde'rframe, and arms or levers pivotally supported at their lower ends by said plates and connected at their upper ends With said door-operating link mechanism.

9. In a dumping car, the combination with a supporting frame, a hopper body having a discharge opening, hinged drop doors cooperating to close said discharge.

opening, and door operating bars under said doors, of hangers depending from the underframe and hopper body near respective f ends of said doors, a cross-head, arms pivotally supported at their lower ends adjavoperating bars, links pivotally connected with said door operating bars and with the cross-head, the connection of one of said links with the cross-head being such as to permit said link to move a limited distance longitudinally with respect to its pivot pin.

In testimony whereof, I have signed this 25 speciication vin the presence of two subscribing Witnesses.

ROBERT R. WEAVER.

Witnesses:

R. S. FERGUSON, G. NOTINGHAM. 

